[mobike008]

Originally Posted by vvrchandra

Got a new Dell Latitude E5540 laptop recently.

Doesnt it come with MS Office pre-loaded? I too bought a Dell laptop recently for the better half and didnt check if it has the office built in

Can you share the specs of your laptop and what price you paid for it and from where you purchased?

[vvrchandra]

Originally Posted by Dry Ice

Umm, why not configure the mail app and give it a test drive to see if it matches your 70-80% outlook performance benchmark. And then take a final call on Outlook.

Well, I've already configured the built in Mail app with 2 accounts (Outlook.in & Gmail) and using it. Will take some time before I rate its performance w.r.to Outlook app. Hence, the request.

Originally Posted by mobike008

Doesnt it come with MS Office pre-loaded? I too bought a Dell laptop recently for the better half and didnt check if it has the office built in

Can you share the specs of your laptop and what price you paid for it and from where you purchased?

Well, mine is a Dell Latitude 5000 series 15" laptop (E5540). These are not available across the counter and are to be ordered directly with Dell.

When I was looking for a laptop, my cousin has suggested me to got for a professional laptop than the ones designed for home use as they can handle more rough usage and he suggested IBM Thinkpad series and Dell Latitude series. Main purpose of this laptop is for my future business needs and home usage also.

When I searched in the market and online for IBM Thinkpad with 4th gen Core i5 processor, I could not find one and majority are with 3rd gen processors. I found one model on the Lenovo website, but its price is around 85K. Hence, I went for Dell Latitude 5000 series. I myself checked their website and called to their contact no.s from the website and finally got a quote for my the specs I wanted and later placed an order after I paid the amount directly over phone (IVRS). I was quoted a delivery time of 10-12 business days for delivery and I got the laptop through Blue Dart on the 12th business day from the order date.

My laptop specs are as below:
1) Dell Latitude 5000 series 15.6" with a docking port.
2) 4th Gen Core i5 processor 4310U 2 Ghz.
3) 500gb hard disk with 8gb flash.
4) 8gb ram (1*8gb) expandable up to 16gb.
5) Windows 8.1 professional.
6) Backlit keyboard.
7) Finger print scanner.
8) Keyboard had a pointing stick similar to Thinkpad series.
9) HDMI port, USB 3.0/2.0 ports and all other ports are normal.
10) 6 Cell battery.

I did not opt for MS Office while ordering. It came with MS Office 30 day trial which I'm now using. Hence the main question regarding MS Office.

The laptop cost is Rs 70240/-. I know its on a higher side, but I wanted to go for professional series laptop. Hence, I did not consider the Inspiron series from Dell. My old laptop is a Dell Inspiron 1520 bought in 2007 and ran well till now. Any additional info required can be given. Thanks.

[vvrchandra]

Originally Posted by vvrchandra

..

My laptop specs are as below:
1) Dell Latitude 5000 series 15.6" with a docking port.
2) 4th Gen Core i5 processor 4310U 2 Ghz.
3) 500gb hard disk with 8gb flash.
4) 8gb ram (1*8gb) expandable up to 16gb.
5) Windows 8.1 professional.
6) Backlit keyboard.
7) Finger print scanner.
8) Keyboard had a pointing stick similar to Thinkpad series.
9) HDMI port, USB 3.0/2.0 ports and all other ports are normal.
10) 6 Cell battery..

Forgot to mention in the above specs. Dell Latitude series laptops by default comes with a 3 years NBD (Next Business Day) onsite service. Also, I've opted for 3 years ADP (Accidental Damage protection).

I was able to track the status of my order online which shows when the laptop went into production, when it is out from production, when it is shipped, etc.

[venuvedam]

Originally Posted by vvrchandra

Got a new Dell Latitude E5540 laptop recently. Also planning for MS Office. If I opt for Office Home & Student 2013 version for Rs 5499/-, I'll get Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and NOT Outlook. Since, the laptop has Win 8.1 Pro OS, it has a Mail app built in.

Now, the question is, Can I use this inbuilt Mail app and just take the above mentioned version of Office? If I include outlook in MS office (Office Home & Business 2013), the cost of the package is increasing many folds (Rs 17499/-). How will the inbuilt Mail app perform against outlook. Can it perform 70-80% of tasks that outlook can perform? Another option instead of this is to go for a subscription version of Office 365 personal which has outlook inbuilt with subscription charges of Rs 3299/- per year. Now between these two, which is a better option. Need suggestions. Thanks.

My personal opinion. Office 365 is the best deal you can get. For around 4000 per year, you get 5 installs of Office - not just one. You can install Office on 5 PCs or Macs and even 5 devices (such as iPad, Android Tab, Android Phone etc). That is a total of 10 office installs. You also get "unlimited" One Drive cloud storage for 5 users. And you keep getting the updates. Outlook is included in the deal.

This is a bargain considering all these things. If you can pool together four of your friends, it comes to 800 per person per year. You can't go wrong with this.

Regards
Venu

P.S. Proud to be an Office 365 Home Premium customer

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by vvrchandra

Forgot to mention in the above specs. Dell Latitude series laptops by default comes with a 3 years NBD (Next Business Day) onsite service. Also, I've opted for 3 years ADP (Accidental Damage protection).

I was able to track the status of my order online which shows when the laptop went into production, when it is out from production, when it is shipped, etc.

Thanks for the detailed info,

I got the Dell Inspiron with exactly same specs with Onsite Dell Warranty for 43K from Snapdeal and got the laptop delivered 3rd day from the day of ordering

Happy with the product and specs

[vvrchandra]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Thanks for the detailed info,

I got the Dell Inspiron with exactly same specs..

Well, there is a difference in the specs of both the laptops.
(Latitude vs Inspiron)
1) Processor : 4310U (2 GHz) vs 4210U (1.7 GHz)
2) RAM : DDR3L vs DDR3
3) Battery : 6 Cell vs 4 Cell
4) Warranty : 3 year vs 1 year (There is a festive offer for 3 years for Inspiron models).
5) OS : Windows 8.1 Pro vs Windows 8.1

The above are the few differences which I could identify from your post on 17 Oct, when you posted about your laptop purchase decision. The ADP can also be opted for other laptops post purchase, if I remember correctly.

The main reason for going for Latitude series laptop (knew that they are expensive than Inspiron) is because of rough usage. This is just for information purpose only.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by vvrchandra

Well, there is a difference in the specs of both the laptops.
(Latitude vs Inspiron)
1) Processor : 4310U (2 GHz) vs 4210U (1.7 GHz)
2) RAM : DDR3L vs DDR3
3) Battery : 6 Cell vs 4 Cell
4) Warranty : 3 year vs 1 year (There is a festive offer for 3 years for Inspiron models).
5) OS : Windows 8.1 Pro vs Windows 8.1

Keeping the rough usage aside.

Iam just wondering above minor differences you pointed out in the specs, how much of it really makes a difference in real life usage?

Is there difference so much that its worth spending 30K+ more?

[Dry Ice]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Is there difference so much that its worth spending 30K+ more?

I would say depends purely on an individual.

Having used both, I felt Lattitude is in a league of its own, build quality wise. Performance wise, it's pretty much similar to any other laptop with the same specs.

[vasudeva]

For people who do need the iso/media for windows and office, a very good site.

http://heidoc.net/joomla/

All iso and exe are genuine and can be hash checked from the MSDN site:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/subs.../hh442898.aspx

[rajivr1612]

Hi,
With a budget of Rs35,000/- I would like to buy one for regular use like net surfing, occasional gaming etc. I want a compact model, small screen size so that carrying it is not cumbersome. Any suggestions where I can start?

[im_srini]

Originally Posted by vvrchandra

Got a new Dell Latitude E5540 (15.6") laptop recently.
...
Now, can I get a decent keypad protector/skin that exactly fits to this keypad layout to protect it from dust entering from tiny gaps.
For info, it is a backlit keypad.

Have been using a Latitude E5440 myself since June.
Can't recommend a keypad skin enough - just last week spilt half-a-cup of coffee on the keypad !
The display went awry at once & the machine shutdown & refused to boot - opened it up to find the RAM slot soaked.
The machine booted up after I switched the RAM into an adjoining slot.
Machine appears fine, but the keypad's a bit "sticky" & has a mind of it's own now.
The backlit key-pads in the Latitude aren't available that easily with resellers (at least in Bangalore) - but they're cheap though.
-

[hellmet]

What's a simple stripped down Linux OS for an old Acer netbook? I have peppermint running right now, but that's also slowing down with some browser tabs open.

[hellmet]

Anyone here have a 2GB DDR3 204 pin RAM module in spare?

[condor]

What's a good /decent laptop for everyday use ?
Regular office apps, browsing is the main usage.

Max 25k
I currently have a 5 year old Inspiron 1440 that I can exchange if possible.

Dell / Lenovo / HP / Toshiba ?
Shouldnt be too heavy
Standard 14 - 15.6" display

[Dry Ice]

Originally Posted by condor

What's a good /decent laptop for everyday use ?
Regular office apps, browsing is the main usage.

Max 25k
I currently have a 5 year old Inspiron 1440 that I can exchange if possible.

Dell / Lenovo / HP / Toshiba ?
Shouldnt be too heavy
Standard 14 - 15.6" display

25k inclusive of MS Office and OS?

You can look at Lenovo models, FK is offering +2 yr warranty and 15% discount on MS Office.

As for exchange, sell the old one on Olx or to ReGlobe.